Laura Knoy, host of NHPR’s The Exchange, interviewed EconTalk host and “Keynes vs. Hayek” co-creator Russ Roberts, along with former Obama adviser and economics blogger Jared Bernstein yesterday morning.
You can hear the show, titled Raising Keynes, at NHPR.org.
For fun, the Keynes vs. Hayek videos are posted below the fold. (more…)
Keene’s city council spat in the faces of most Keene inhabitants today by “accepting as informational” a petition with nearly 150 signatures urging the council to reconsider their accepting of federal money to buy a “Bearcat” armored personnel carrier. To accept something as informational is essentially a blow-off. It takes the issue off the table and means that no one need say anything further on the matter. It was not assigned to a committee where the public can be heard and action could be taken. It’s a big “fuck you” to all the people who spent time collecting those signatures and everyone who bothered to sign.
What did the petitions say? They merely asked the council to schedule a public hearing on the matter of reconsidering the Bearcat. Apparently the council would prefer that people not be able to speak on this matter. The Bearcat was quietly approved without public input and now the council is protecting the Keene police and their buddies in the federal government by refusing to even allow a hearing on the matter.
Does anyone really think these “councilors” represent “the people”?
Google as it appeared during the Jan 18 blackout.
Much abuzz online yesterday had to deal with the congressional threat to the internet known as SOPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act is a federal bill which would create a blacklist of websites which internet service providers would be required to maintain and enforce. The blacklist would allegedly include websites which either host or link to data which, per its existence, is violating copyright laws. The very concept of ‘piracy’ is on its face hyperbolic. It is laughable Newspeak to equate data sharing with the practice of pillaging vessels at sea. PIPA, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, is the senate version of the dinosaur recording industry’s legislative attempt to thwart the free exchange of information. Also lobbying very strongly with the MPAA is the pharmaceutical industry, which profits heavily from onerous intellectual property regulation.
Reddit was the first eminent domain of the internet to announce January 18 as its blackout date to protest SOPA. Wikipedia announced its participation with similar measures. Google demonstrated its solidarity by featuring a black stripped homepage with a subheader requesting that people contact their so-called representatives and ask for a rejection of state control over the internet.
Heavy traffic to government servers hosting contact information for congress and the senate caused many pages to be inaccessible for the day.
Today I represented myself in court. What. A. Circus.
It was a “Who’s Who” of Keene Activism:
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GQ Magazine’s Reid Cherlin encounters the Free State Project’s president, Carla Gericke at a Ron Paul event:
Ron Paul’s rally today, in a hangar at the Nashua airport, was one of the most crowded and energetic events I’ve seen here this week—hundreds of supporters whooped and hollered, as the Texas congressman warbled on about freedom and what sounded to me like the arrival of End Times. At least I think he was talking about End Times: the air was too thick with cheers to hear much. Amid this sea of freedom-leaving fankids, one supporter caught my eye as particularly cheerful and exultant. Sporting blue hair, a camouflage hoodie, and peace sign earrings, she shouted “END THE FED” during a rare quiet moment—a striking illustration of the diverse strands of hippyism and ultra-right armageddonism that define this quirky campaign. (Excuse me: movement.) Meet Carla Gericke, happy warrior, secessionist, and President of the Free State Project.
GQ: Tell me about the Free State Project.
Carla Gericke: It’s a geopolitical movement to get libertarians to move to the state of New Hampshire so that we can concentrate in one area. We have about a thousand people who have moved, about 11,000 who’ve signed the pledge. When 20,000 sign the pledge, they have five years to move here. (more…)
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